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Star Trek Online Advanced Combat Tactics

Blizzard
executives are notorious for some of their sayings
like “soon,” and “bring the player not
the class,” but my personal favorite
game design man

Blizzard
executives are notorious for some of their sayings
like “soon,” and “bring the player not
the class,” but my personal favorite
game design mantra they chant is “easy to learn, difficult to
master.” I
believe that Cryptic has taken a page out of this book for Star Trek Online
when it comes to combat both in space and on the
ground. Many of the encounters can be slogged through with basic combat
commands and completing the three button attack. For those wanting to
get the
most out of their experience in the game though, there are many layers
to
uncover during combat maneuvers which
will bring the difficulty (and fun) up a
notch. Some moves will be second nature to you, others may be something
to try
out. The game is still new to me too, so I’d invite you to
share some of your
tactics and tricks too.

Going to ground,
letting a good man die.

As
discussed in the basic concepts of ground combat, I spend
most of my time trying to be a lawn gnome (crouching). In amongst all
of the
mayhem I tend to focus on my strengths not weaknesses. This means that
as a
tactician I get a whole lot more “oomph” out of
flanking someone that trying to
go toe to toe with a bad guy. My goal is to let my team draw fire while
I flank
and then pick off the farther enemies capable of doing the most damage.
I will
do this even if I have a sword master up in my face (I’ll
knock him down every
so often to buy some time though too).

Don’t
be afraid to let your away team take some hits (unless
you are geared with the right skills to be able to live through it).
The medic
will revive anyone that drops so don’t be the hero.

Starter Rounds

When
creeping up on a band of bad guys, there are a couple
of different tactics. One is to use an Area of Effect (AOE) root and
then hit
the whole group with everything you’ve got. Since
I’m a tactician, I enjoy
targeting the highest ranking or meanest looking bad guy, lobbing a
grenade,
then using my sniper shot which can usually drop them in a round or
two.

Forget the Targs

Dog
bites hurt, but if you don’t take out those Targ
Handlers, they will keep bringing more puppies to the party. As soon as
you see
those guys, take them out as fast as possible. The Targs they summon
will chew
you and your party to bits.

Life
gets too hectic sometimes.

How
many of you have used the “pause” feature? You
don’t get
any extra points for not using that thing, so be sure to try it out.
It’s a
great way to collect your thoughts, review all available options and
then go in
blasting.

Get everyone into the
game.

During
ground combat situations when you are with your own
Away team, you really have a lot of options for how your group works
together.
For those not familiar with all of the icons around your
team’s portraits, make
sure you memorize the information in Dalmarus’ Ground
UI Guide. If
you find yourself on auto pilot with your away team, you’re
getting good
performance probably, but you’re better off tailoring their
styles and attacks
to what you want to do. Put that science officer on heal and buff duty
and out
of harm’s way with a way point. See if you can keep your team
in range of the
healing while you blast away at the oncoming rush.

One
great tactic for those tough boss-type fights is to use
the pause button and then spread your team out while focusing fire (see
button
6 in the UI guide) on the boss. This way everyone has the right target
and
someone is getting a flanking bonus.

Don’t
get kicked in the Space junk.

Space
combat makes up the lion’s share of the game so get
used to the basics and then add some spice to your routine (your
crew’s life
may depend on it). Again, a great guide for knowing the UI can be found
from
Dalmarus’ Space
Combat
UI Guide. One constant about
space battle is knowing when your enemy’s
shields are down. Watch those torpedo cooldowns and get used to timing
the
delivery of torpedoes when you hear those magic words “your
enemy’s shields are
down.”

Swatting Flies

Dalmarus
and I have a running debate over the best tactic on
fighting the fighter targets during a fight with a battlecruiser. In
early
levels the fighters don’t seem to do much damage to my ship,
so my philosophy
is to let them tickle my shields while I destroy the head of the snake
(battle
cruiser). Dalmarus believes that knocking out the little guys is the
best
strategy so the Starfleet gains unfettered access to focus on the big
guy.

A
constant that we both agree on is the necessity to switch
targets. There are times when shooting in front of you is better than
just
using aft beams on a ship behind you. Get used to maximizing your fire
power
potential.

Speaking
of fast little buggers, don’t try and turn with all
of the fighters, they are just too fast. Use the Dalmarus fly swatting
technique
and get under them so they fly into range of more of your weapons.

Lopsided shields make
me a sad panda.

The
arrows around the icon of your ship will bolster your
shields. Use the arrows. If you have full shields on three sides and
one side
is empty, then you are not managing your shields appropriately. Get
used to
clicking that arrow early and often.

Strafing Runs.

The
common technique for approaching space combat is to drop
out of fast gear far enough from the target that your ship’s
energy will
balance out and then start blasting as soon as that range finder shows
9.99Km
away. Bolster the front shields and continue to use beams until you
hear the
magic tone “Enemy shields are down” and lob some
torpedoes. From here, it’s
very fight specific. If you are truly doing a strafing run against a
slower
battleship, go past the target and launch some mines for the bad guy o
fly
through. Then get in behind him, tear his shields apart and nuke him.

Outnumbered, but
never outgunned.

Similar
to the above, I typically pick one huckleberry for
my main target and try to pick one that is the farthest from the rest.
Those
extra few seconds while the other ships are flying over to help their
buddy
will help you avoid a bit of damage. Try to focus fire on the main
target, but
don’t forget the earlier point of maximizing your damage
output. If the main
target is out of reach or another target offers a better option, take
what you
can get.

There is no right
answer, but a lot of wrong ones.

Every
ship will be kitted differently, all players will
spend skill points slightly different, etc. Essentially there is no
“one way to
do this right,” but some common tactics should help you be a
better captain.
The tactics will change greatly depending on career choices and gear,
but the
above strategies and concepts should help through the first tier of
ships.